Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is poised to win today’s presidential election in the first round as spending pledges helped reverse a drop in popularity after disputed December parliamentary polls.
Putin will get about 60 percent of votes, more than the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff, surveys predict. Balloting for about 110 million voters begins at 8 a.m. March 4 seven time zones from Moscow in Russia’s Far East. Exit-poll data is due from 9 p.m. in the capital, to be followed by preliminary results. The final outcome will be released within 10 days.
Putin, 59, who first came to power in 1999 and has been premier since handing the presidency to protégé Dmitry Medvedev in 2008, has faced unprecedented protests over a parliamentary vote in December that opposition parties say was rigged in favor of his ruling United Russia party. In trips across the country, Putin vowed to raise state salaries and pensions.
Social Justice: Current Affairs, Business, Politics, and all the reasons in the world to Thrive on Creative Discontent!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Tide Gentle and Free for children has a known cancer causing agent
Tide's "Free and Gentle" laundry detergent claims to be "gentle on the skin" because it’s free of dyes and perfumes. Ads for the detergent target parents and feature pictures of small children. But a recent report exposed high levels of a cancer-causing chemical in Tide "Free and Gentle" detergent: 1,4-dioxane.
All you can can say --- is you knew better....so now civilization will pass judgment.
William Bryan Jennings, Morgan Stanley’s bond-underwriting chief in the U.S., was charged with a hate crime in the stabbing of a New York City cab driver of Middle Eastern descent over a fare.
Mohamed Ammar said the banker attacked him Dec. 22 with a 2½-inch blade and used racial slurs after a 40-mile ride from New York to the banker’s $3.4 million Darien, Connecticut home.
Jennings, who had attended a bank holiday party at a boutique hotel in Manhattan before hailing the cab, refused to pay the $204 fare upon arriving in his driveway, the driver said. When Ammar threatened to call the local police, Jennings said they wouldn’t do anything to help because he pays $10,000 in taxes, according to a report by the Darien police department.
Ammar, a native of Egypt, said he then backed out of the driveway to seek a police officer. The banker called him an expletive and said “I’m going to kill you. You should go back to your country,” according to the report, filed in state court in Stamford. A fight ensued as they drove through Darien, and Jennings, 45, allegedly cut Ammar, 44, police said.
The banker, who eventually fled the cab and turned himself in two weeks later after a vacation in Florida, was charged with second-degree assault, theft of services and intimidation by bias or bigotry. He faces as long as 5 years in prison on the assault charge.
Mohamed Ammar said the banker attacked him Dec. 22 with a 2½-inch blade and used racial slurs after a 40-mile ride from New York to the banker’s $3.4 million Darien, Connecticut home.
Jennings, who had attended a bank holiday party at a boutique hotel in Manhattan before hailing the cab, refused to pay the $204 fare upon arriving in his driveway, the driver said. When Ammar threatened to call the local police, Jennings said they wouldn’t do anything to help because he pays $10,000 in taxes, according to a report by the Darien police department.
Ammar, a native of Egypt, said he then backed out of the driveway to seek a police officer. The banker called him an expletive and said “I’m going to kill you. You should go back to your country,” according to the report, filed in state court in Stamford. A fight ensued as they drove through Darien, and Jennings, 45, allegedly cut Ammar, 44, police said.
The banker, who eventually fled the cab and turned himself in two weeks later after a vacation in Florida, was charged with second-degree assault, theft of services and intimidation by bias or bigotry. He faces as long as 5 years in prison on the assault charge.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Rush Limbaugh is a creep, idiot, bigot, sexist.....why would any thinking human being listen to him???
The ongoing debate over birth control took a particularly nasty turn recently when conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute” for speaking out about the issue.
Earth’s oceans are acidifying faster than at any point during the last 300 million years due to industrial emissions
The Earth’s oceans are acidifying faster than at any point during the last 300 million years due to industrial emissions, endangering marine life from oysters and reefs to sea-going salmon, researchers said.
The scientists found surging levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere forced down the pH of the ocean by 0.1 unit in the last century, 10 times faster than the closest historical comparison from 56 million years ago, New York’s Columbia University, which led the research, said yesterday in a statement. The seas absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, forming carbonic acid. The lower the pH level in the seas, the more acidic they are.
Past instances of ocean acidification have been linked with mass extinctions of marine creatures so the current one could also threaten important species, according to Baerbel Hoenisch, the paleoceanographer at Columbia who was lead author of the paper that appeared in the journal Science.
“If industrial carbon emissions continue at the current pace, we may lose organisms we care about -- coral reefs, oysters, salmon,” Hoenisch said.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said ocean pH may fall another 0.3 units this century, according to Columbia. The closest change to the current pace occurred during the so-called Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum about 56 million years ago, when a doubling of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide may have pushed pH levels down by 0.45 units over 20,000 years, according to the researchers.
The scientists found surging levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere forced down the pH of the ocean by 0.1 unit in the last century, 10 times faster than the closest historical comparison from 56 million years ago, New York’s Columbia University, which led the research, said yesterday in a statement. The seas absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, forming carbonic acid. The lower the pH level in the seas, the more acidic they are.
Past instances of ocean acidification have been linked with mass extinctions of marine creatures so the current one could also threaten important species, according to Baerbel Hoenisch, the paleoceanographer at Columbia who was lead author of the paper that appeared in the journal Science.
“If industrial carbon emissions continue at the current pace, we may lose organisms we care about -- coral reefs, oysters, salmon,” Hoenisch said.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said ocean pH may fall another 0.3 units this century, according to Columbia. The closest change to the current pace occurred during the so-called Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum about 56 million years ago, when a doubling of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide may have pushed pH levels down by 0.45 units over 20,000 years, according to the researchers.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
FCPA = ALCOA = Bahrain = TIP of the Iceberg
Bahrain’s state-owned aluminum producer asked a court to let it proceed with racketeering claims that it overpaid for raw materials because of bribes directed by Alcoa Inc. (AA), the largest U.S. aluminum producer.
Aluminium Bahrain BSC, known as Alba, claims that New York- based Alcoa bribed senior officials in Bahrain and caused Alba to pay almost $500 million more than it should have for alumina, the principal raw material in aluminum. Alcoa has asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that the alleged conduct took place outside the U.S. and shouldn’t be litigated in federal court.
Alba countered that Alcoa and other defendants used offshore shell companies to “perpetrate and conceal a massive, home-cooked bribery scheme conceived, orchestrated, and directed in and from the United States,” according to its filing yesterday in federal court in Pittsburgh.
Claims of domestic leadership of the fraudulent scheme are “amply supported by Alba’s detailed, specific, and documented allegations of actions in furtherance of the scheme by senior domestic executives,” according to the filing.
Aluminium Bahrain BSC, known as Alba, claims that New York- based Alcoa bribed senior officials in Bahrain and caused Alba to pay almost $500 million more than it should have for alumina, the principal raw material in aluminum. Alcoa has asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that the alleged conduct took place outside the U.S. and shouldn’t be litigated in federal court.
Alba countered that Alcoa and other defendants used offshore shell companies to “perpetrate and conceal a massive, home-cooked bribery scheme conceived, orchestrated, and directed in and from the United States,” according to its filing yesterday in federal court in Pittsburgh.
Claims of domestic leadership of the fraudulent scheme are “amply supported by Alba’s detailed, specific, and documented allegations of actions in furtherance of the scheme by senior domestic executives,” according to the filing.
Would the white supremacists please go colonize the moon???
Fighting contraception. Stopping domestic violence protections. Extending tax cuts for the wealthy, while hiking taxes on the middle class. Welcoming white supremacists to a conference, but banning gay conservatives. The GOP (Republicans) has followed its extremist fringe off the deep end, leaving the rest of us back in the reality-based world befuddled. Their strategists warned them not to do this, but it appears that to the GOP, radical fringe issue positions are like catnip. In last night's Republican presidential debate in Arizona, the candidates even spent several minutes discussing which of them is least in favor of allowing rape victims to have access to emergency contraception.
Perhaps Bruce Bartlett, who was an economic policy official under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said it best on last night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Discussing the obstacles to getting smart policies agreed upon and passed in government, he said, "the problem is purely political ... frankly, one (Republican) of our political parties is insane, and we all know which one it is." (Hint: he was not talking about the Democrats.)
Standing Up for Women's Health -- We all heard about the War on Women's Health last year, when Tea Party-empowered state legislatures passed a record slew of anti-choice laws -- like Arizona's ban on "race-based abortions" and Virginia's attempt to shut down most abortion clinics in the state. These state legislatures were joined by an enthusiastic right-wing Congress that attempted to defund the entire $317 million federal family program, tried to redefine "rape" and eagerly promoted lies about their favorite bogeyman, Planned Parenthood. Well, the War on Women's Health is back, and it looks to be more an all-out War on Women. PFAW members spoke out when Susan G. Komen for the Cure threatened to cut off funds for Planned Parenthood because of internal influences from right-wing staff and board members. We're currently fighting an amendment in the U.S. Senate that would give employers the power to deny any health care to their employees that they take "moral" issue with personally. And we continue to track closely dangerous and extreme state legislation like the recent bill passed by Virginia’s right-wing Assembly that would force women considering abortions -- even rape victims -- to undergo invasive transvaginal ultrasounds.
Exposing the GOP Candidates' Extremism -- PFAW's Right Wing Watch last week uncovered the audio recording of a speech Rick Santorum gave to students at Ave Maria University in 2008 in which he said Satan, the "Father of Lies" was focusing all his attention on the United States of America. He said that academia had long ago fallen to this Satanic attack, derided mainline Protestant churches as no longer Christian and said that we are involved in a "spiritual war," as opposed to a political or cultural war -- a war in which we could only assume people with opposing views to Santorum's are on the side of Satan. The story took off like wildfire in both the blogosphere and the mainstream news media. It became the dominant storyline of the GOP debate for the two days leading up to the last debate and even had right-wing pundits like Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh, and politicians like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, asserting that Santorum's religious extremism is too much for a majority of Americans.
Fighting Judicial Obstruction -- A new PFAW fact sheet shows the extremity and unprecedented nature of Senate Republicans obstruction of judicial nominees, as well as its impact on Americans' access to justice. While a vacancy crisis persists on many of the nation's federal courts, our persistence is paying off and we're finally making headway in getting some of the president's qualified nominees confirmed. This month, the Senate confirmed Cathy Ann Bencivengo and Jesse Furman to U.S. District Courts in California and New York respectively, and Adalberto Jose Jordan to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, all of whom had been waiting months on the Senate calendar for a vote despite the fact that they came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee without any opposition. But dozens of other qualified nominees, most of whom had little or no opposition in Committee, still await confirmation. We'll continue to hold Republicans accountable for their obstruction and keep the pressure on to confirm these judges as swiftly as possible, and one at a time if necessary.
Youth Spotlight: Young Elected Officials take on Citizens United v. FEC -- In state, city and municipal governing bodies in at least seven states, members of our affiliate PFAW Foundation's Young Elected Officials (YEO) Network have put forward resolutions that call for the end of corporate personhood and unlimited special interest money in politics. One of the first big victories in this coordinated national effort was that of Missoula, Montana Councilwoman Cynthia Wolken. After attending a session on Citizens United at the 2011 YEO National Convening, Councilwoman Wolken took a sample resolution and introduced a city-wide referendum calling for Congress to pass a constitutional amendment that made it clear that corporations are not people. The referendum passed overwhelmingly, with over 75% of the vote, bringing an abundance of media attention to the issue and forcing leaders in Montana's state government to weigh-in as well.
Perhaps Bruce Bartlett, who was an economic policy official under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said it best on last night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Discussing the obstacles to getting smart policies agreed upon and passed in government, he said, "the problem is purely political ... frankly, one (Republican) of our political parties is insane, and we all know which one it is." (Hint: he was not talking about the Democrats.)
Standing Up for Women's Health -- We all heard about the War on Women's Health last year, when Tea Party-empowered state legislatures passed a record slew of anti-choice laws -- like Arizona's ban on "race-based abortions" and Virginia's attempt to shut down most abortion clinics in the state. These state legislatures were joined by an enthusiastic right-wing Congress that attempted to defund the entire $317 million federal family program, tried to redefine "rape" and eagerly promoted lies about their favorite bogeyman, Planned Parenthood. Well, the War on Women's Health is back, and it looks to be more an all-out War on Women. PFAW members spoke out when Susan G. Komen for the Cure threatened to cut off funds for Planned Parenthood because of internal influences from right-wing staff and board members. We're currently fighting an amendment in the U.S. Senate that would give employers the power to deny any health care to their employees that they take "moral" issue with personally. And we continue to track closely dangerous and extreme state legislation like the recent bill passed by Virginia’s right-wing Assembly that would force women considering abortions -- even rape victims -- to undergo invasive transvaginal ultrasounds.
Exposing the GOP Candidates' Extremism -- PFAW's Right Wing Watch last week uncovered the audio recording of a speech Rick Santorum gave to students at Ave Maria University in 2008 in which he said Satan, the "Father of Lies" was focusing all his attention on the United States of America. He said that academia had long ago fallen to this Satanic attack, derided mainline Protestant churches as no longer Christian and said that we are involved in a "spiritual war," as opposed to a political or cultural war -- a war in which we could only assume people with opposing views to Santorum's are on the side of Satan. The story took off like wildfire in both the blogosphere and the mainstream news media. It became the dominant storyline of the GOP debate for the two days leading up to the last debate and even had right-wing pundits like Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh, and politicians like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, asserting that Santorum's religious extremism is too much for a majority of Americans.
Fighting Judicial Obstruction -- A new PFAW fact sheet shows the extremity and unprecedented nature of Senate Republicans obstruction of judicial nominees, as well as its impact on Americans' access to justice. While a vacancy crisis persists on many of the nation's federal courts, our persistence is paying off and we're finally making headway in getting some of the president's qualified nominees confirmed. This month, the Senate confirmed Cathy Ann Bencivengo and Jesse Furman to U.S. District Courts in California and New York respectively, and Adalberto Jose Jordan to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, all of whom had been waiting months on the Senate calendar for a vote despite the fact that they came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee without any opposition. But dozens of other qualified nominees, most of whom had little or no opposition in Committee, still await confirmation. We'll continue to hold Republicans accountable for their obstruction and keep the pressure on to confirm these judges as swiftly as possible, and one at a time if necessary.
Youth Spotlight: Young Elected Officials take on Citizens United v. FEC -- In state, city and municipal governing bodies in at least seven states, members of our affiliate PFAW Foundation's Young Elected Officials (YEO) Network have put forward resolutions that call for the end of corporate personhood and unlimited special interest money in politics. One of the first big victories in this coordinated national effort was that of Missoula, Montana Councilwoman Cynthia Wolken. After attending a session on Citizens United at the 2011 YEO National Convening, Councilwoman Wolken took a sample resolution and introduced a city-wide referendum calling for Congress to pass a constitutional amendment that made it clear that corporations are not people. The referendum passed overwhelmingly, with over 75% of the vote, bringing an abundance of media attention to the issue and forcing leaders in Montana's state government to weigh-in as well.
USA Today: A broadly shared prosperity has been replaced by winner-take-all plutocracy.
FROM the 1940s to the 1970s, organized labor helped build a middle-class democracy in the United States. The postwar period was as successful as it was because of unions, which helped enact progressive social legislation from the Civil Rights Act to Medicare. Since then, union representation of American workers has fallen, in tandem with the percentage of income going to the middle class. Broadly shared prosperity has been replaced by winner-take-all plutocracy.
Many vibrant industrial democracies, including Germany, have strong unions despite facing the same pressures from globalization.
Polling has shown that a majority of American nonunion workers would like to join a union if they could.
In fact, the greatest impediment to unions is weak and anachronistic labor laws. It’s time to add the right to organize a labor union, without employer discrimination, to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, because that right is as fundamental as freedom from discrimination in employment and education. This would enshrine what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed in 1961 at an A.F.L.-C.I.O. convention: “The two most dynamic and cohesive liberal forces in the country are the labor movement and the Negro freedom movement. Together, we can be architects of democracy.”
The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that “everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.” The First Amendment has been read to protect freedom of association, and the 1935 National Labor Relations Act recognized the “right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations,” but in reality, the opportunity to organize is a right without a remedy.
Firing someone for trying to organize a union is technically illegal under the 1935 act, but there are powerful incentives for corporations to violate this right, in part because the penalties — mitigated back pay after extended hearings — are so weak.
It is noteworthy that American workers in the airline and railway industries, which are governed not by the 1935 law but by a stronger statute, the Railway Labor Act, have much higher rates of unionization.
Past efforts to strengthen labor laws over four decades have gotten bogged down: Congress cannot pass reforms until labor’s political clout increases, but that won’t happen without labor law reform.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, has much stronger penalties and procedures than labor laws. Under our proposal, complaints about wrongful terminations for union organizing could still go through the National Labor Relations Board, which has expertise in this field. But the board would employ the procedures currently used by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which provide that after 180 days, a plaintiff can move his or her case from the administrative agency to federal court. There, plaintiffs alleging that they were unfairly dismissed for trying to organize could sue for compensatory and punitive damages and lawyers’ fees, have the opportunity to engage in pretrial legal discovery and have access to a jury — none of which are available under current law.
Our proposal would make disciplining or firing an employee “on the basis of seeking union membership” illegal just as it now is on the basis of race, color, sex, religion and national origin. It would expand the fundamental right of association encapsulated in the First Amendment and apply it to the private workplace just as the rights of equality articulated in the 14th Amendment have been so applied.
The labor and civil rights movements have shared values (advancing human dignity), shared interests (people of color are disproportionately working-class), shared historic enemies (the Jim Crow South was also a bastion of right-to-work laws) and shared tactics (sit-ins, strikes and other forms of nonviolent protest). King, it should be remembered, was gunned down in Memphis in 1968, where he was supporting striking black sanitation workers who marched carrying posters with the message “I Am a Man.” Conceiving of labor organizing as a civil right, moreover, would recast the complexity of labor law reform in clear moral terms.
Some might argue that the Civil Rights Act should be limited to discrimination based on immutable characteristics like race or national origin, not acts of volition. But the act already protects against religious discrimination. Some local civil rights statutes even cover marital status, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income, or place of residence or business.
Should organizing at work for “mutual aid and protection” not also be covered?
Chicago Quits Coal!!!!
I am proud to announce that the Beyond Coal movement is winning: as of today, the 100th coal plant since 2010 -- Portland coal plant in Mt. Bethel, PA -- has announced plans for retirement! Not only that, but our efforts have led to the equivalent of 11 million homes powered throughout the nation by clean energy!
Yesterday was a big day for clean air. For nearly 100 years, Edison International’s Fisk and Crawford coal plants have loomed over the City of Chicago, fueling climate change, exposing families to dangerous levels of chemicals and polluting the air.
But the people of Chicago fought back-- and won. That’s right, the city of Chicago has quit coal!
For over ten years, community members in Chicago have been standing up to Edison International and demanding their right to clean air and a safe climate. With your help, they achieved an historic victory today - the Fisk coal plant in Pilsen will shut down in 2012 and the Crawford coal plant in Little Village will shut down by 2014.
And as if we didn’t already have enough to be excited about with the victory in Chicago, we had ANOTHER victory for the people of Pennsylvania and Ohio. GenOn announced that they will close seven coal plants including the Portland, PA plant which was responsible for over 500 asthma attacks and 54 heart attacks.
You have a lot to be proud of.
These victories are not only for the people of Chicago, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but for local activists all over the country who are working to shut down dirty coal plants in their communities.
Yesterday was a big day for clean air. For nearly 100 years, Edison International’s Fisk and Crawford coal plants have loomed over the City of Chicago, fueling climate change, exposing families to dangerous levels of chemicals and polluting the air.
But the people of Chicago fought back-- and won. That’s right, the city of Chicago has quit coal!
For over ten years, community members in Chicago have been standing up to Edison International and demanding their right to clean air and a safe climate. With your help, they achieved an historic victory today - the Fisk coal plant in Pilsen will shut down in 2012 and the Crawford coal plant in Little Village will shut down by 2014.
And as if we didn’t already have enough to be excited about with the victory in Chicago, we had ANOTHER victory for the people of Pennsylvania and Ohio. GenOn announced that they will close seven coal plants including the Portland, PA plant which was responsible for over 500 asthma attacks and 54 heart attacks.
You have a lot to be proud of.
These victories are not only for the people of Chicago, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but for local activists all over the country who are working to shut down dirty coal plants in their communities.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Asian Dragon Market breaks loose!
Asian stocks entered a dragon (kinda like a bull) market yesterday after central-bank easing from the U.S. and Europe to China and Japan fueled the fastest rally in more than two years.
IRAN Political Leaders provide only for a painful and crippling past, present & future => TIME 4 Change!!!
The cascade of U.S. and European sanctions imposed on Iran is crippling its ability to export oil and conduct trade, hitting the Gulf state’s economy and stoking internal dissent, sanctions specialists and U.S. officials say.
An array of restrictions on banking, shipping, insurance, ports, trade, commodities and energy transactions and ventures have severed or complicated many of Iran’s commercial ties to the outside world. U.S. officials such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton say there is limited time for sanctions to pressure Iran into giving up disputed nuclear activities before the U.S. or Israel may take military action.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referred to the panoply of sanctions in a national broadcast Feb. 3 as “painful and crippling.” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Nov. 1 that “our banks cannot make international transactions anymore.”
It's amazing what a little efficiency can do for you --- make you an energy exporter!!!
The U.S. exported more gasoline, diesel and other fuels than it imported in 2011 for the first time since 1949, the Energy Department said today.
Shipments abroad of petroleum products exceeded imports by 439,000 barrels a day, the department said in the Petroleum Supply Monthly report. In 2010, daily net imports averaged 269,000 barrels. U.S. refiners exported record amounts of gasoline, heating oil and diesel to meet higher global fuel demand while U.S. fuel consumption sank.
Shipments abroad of petroleum products exceeded imports by 439,000 barrels a day, the department said in the Petroleum Supply Monthly report. In 2010, daily net imports averaged 269,000 barrels. U.S. refiners exported record amounts of gasoline, heating oil and diesel to meet higher global fuel demand while U.S. fuel consumption sank.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
China is on Board...and now to Russia....
China backs international efforts to send humanitarian aid to Syria, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, after Western powers proposed a United Nations resolution authorizing humanitarian aid.
It was not clear whether Yang's remarks mean China will consider the proposed new U. N. Security Council resolution. China is one of the five permanent members of the Council which have the power to veto such resolutions.
"The pressing task now is for all sides to cease violence in the Syrian conflict, and to launch as soon as possible inclusive political dialogue and together deliberate on a reform plan," Yang told Elaraby, who has previously said Beijing's veto lost it diplomatic credit in the Arab world.
"The international community should create conditions for this, and extend humanitarian aid to Syria," added Yang.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Intelligent Design or Natural Selection you decide on Keystone XL (New & Improved)
TransCanada Corp said on Monday it will build the southern leg of its $7 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline first.
Building the portion of the contentious pipeline that would run to Texas refineries from the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub before the northern section would help remove a pinch-point that has led to deep price discounts for U.S. and Canadian crude and forced refiners to rely more heavily on imports.
TransCanada said it wants the $2.3 billion southern leg in service by mid- to late 2013. It said construction would create 4,000 U.S. jobs.
The company also wrote to the U.S. State Department on Monday detailing plans to refile an application shortly for the remainder of line running to Steele City, Nebraska, from the Canada-U.S. border.
The BULL runs...
The S&P 500 is on pace for a third month of gains, the longest streak in a year, amid better-than-estimated economic and corporate reports. It has risen 4.2 percent this month. The index trades at about 14.1 times reported earnings, compared with the average since 1954 of 16.4 times, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Judicial Nominations at critical decision point; act now to ensure our Democracy works with three strong branches of government!!!
It is clear from recent cases that no matter the issue—health care, immigration, environment, marriage equality, consumer protections, ethics—the judiciary will continue to play an increasingly important role in the lives of hardworking Americans as well as in the success of the progressive legislative agenda. Every issue progressives fight for ends up in the courts. If you’re a progressive and you care about any progressive issue, who is on the courts matters to you.
Current Nominations Battle
More than half of the U.S. population currently lives in a community with a courtroom vacancy. Today there are 20 judicial nominees who are awaiting a simple up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, most of these nominees have been waiting months for a vote, with the judicial work of the American people going undone. These 20 nominees:
Enjoy broad Democratic and Republican support:
Americans must have equal access to a fair hearing in court, and obstruction by Republicans is preventing that from happening.
Current Nominations Battle
More than half of the U.S. population currently lives in a community with a courtroom vacancy. Today there are 20 judicial nominees who are awaiting a simple up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, most of these nominees have been waiting months for a vote, with the judicial work of the American people going undone. These 20 nominees:
Enjoy broad Democratic and Republican support:
- 13 were approved unanimously by Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee
- 5 received with just one “no” vote
- 2 were approved on party line votes
- 10 of the 20 would fill a “judicial emergency
- 10 are represented by states with at least one Republican Senator
- 9 are women
- 10 are minorities (2 Hispanic, 4 African American, 3 Asian American, 1 gay)
- At this point in George W. Bush’s term, Circuit Court nominees waited an average of 28 days from Committee approval to Senate vote. President Obama’s nominees have waited an average of 139 days.
- At this point in George W. Bush’s term, District Court nominees waited an average of 22 days from Committee approval to Senate vote. President Obama’s nominees have waited an average of 100 days.
Americans must have equal access to a fair hearing in court, and obstruction by Republicans is preventing that from happening.
- Unprecedented republican obstruction in Washington has left us with over 80 vacancies on the federal courts, leading to a backlog of cases that undermines our system of justice and makes it impossible for most Americans to have their case heard in a timely manner.
- The Senate is failing in its Constitutional duty to advice and consent to nominees to fill the nation’s courtrooms.
- It is time to put aside the partisan bickering, get rid of the anonymous ‘holds’ that Senators can place on a judicial appointment, and fill these critical vacancies so Americans can have their voice heard in court.
- Americans don’t like a system (especially a court system) where corporations and the wealthy have better access and a different set of rules to play by than everybody else. Instead they want a system where everyone can get a fair shake.
- Americans – across the political spectrum and across the income spectrum – consistently say that “having the laws apply equally to everyone” is the most important right included in the Constitution, and the right that’s most at risk today.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
The Price of Doing it YOUR way.....Embarassment, Destruction, & Loss...more to follow!!! :-)
BP Plc (BP/) and plaintiffs suing over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill are discussing a $14 billion accord that would be funded with money originally set aside by the company for out-of-court settlements, according to three people familiar with the talks.
BP would agree to close down its $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility and shift the remaining $14 billion to plaintiffs who contend the spill harmed their businesses and properties, the people said. BP set up the fund in August 2010 to allow spill victims to receive compensation more quickly than they would by pursuing lawsuits. The fund has paid out about $6 billion so far, according to its website.
The April 2010 Macondo well blowout sent more than 4 million barrels of oil spewing into the gulf over 85 days, making it the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. The disaster spawned hundreds of lawsuits against BP and its partners, including Transocean Ltd. (RIG), the Vernier, Switzerland- based owner and operator of the drilling rig, and Houston-based Halliburton Co. (HAL), which provided cementing services on the facility. The suits include pollution claims by the federal and state governments, and consolidated cases brought by thousands of commercial fishermen, seafood processors and property owners.
“They could be about 90 or 95 percent done and now they have to go that last yard, which is always the toughest,” Carl Tobias, who teaches mass-tort law at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said of the proposed accord. “There could be an awful lot of money that is still in play or provisions that are hard to swallow for one side or the other.”
BP would agree to close down its $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility and shift the remaining $14 billion to plaintiffs who contend the spill harmed their businesses and properties, the people said. BP set up the fund in August 2010 to allow spill victims to receive compensation more quickly than they would by pursuing lawsuits. The fund has paid out about $6 billion so far, according to its website.
The April 2010 Macondo well blowout sent more than 4 million barrels of oil spewing into the gulf over 85 days, making it the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. The disaster spawned hundreds of lawsuits against BP and its partners, including Transocean Ltd. (RIG), the Vernier, Switzerland- based owner and operator of the drilling rig, and Houston-based Halliburton Co. (HAL), which provided cementing services on the facility. The suits include pollution claims by the federal and state governments, and consolidated cases brought by thousands of commercial fishermen, seafood processors and property owners.
“They could be about 90 or 95 percent done and now they have to go that last yard, which is always the toughest,” Carl Tobias, who teaches mass-tort law at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said of the proposed accord. “There could be an awful lot of money that is still in play or provisions that are hard to swallow for one side or the other.”
A Founding Father was clear on the separation of chruch and state as well as the US Supreme Court but that doesn't matter to Rick Santorum!!!
Republican presidential primary hopeful Rick Santorum says he doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state, noting that a speech on the topic by former President John F. Kennedy makes him want to “throw up.”
“I don’t believe that the separation of church and state is absolute,” Santorum said in an interview today on ABC’s “This Week” program.
In the United States, the term is an offshoot of the phrase, "wall of separation between church and state," as written in Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802.
The original text reads: "... I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
The American Frozen Food Institute, National Meat Association, International Dairy Foods Association and United Fresh Produce Association would like to cause $77.7 bln in food borne illnesses v having safer processing standards....
An Obama administration plan to raise $220 million for food-safety programs through fees on processing plants, warehouses and other facilities.
The fees are minimal compared with the cost of foodborne illness, which the act seeks to reduce, Doug Karas, a spokesman for the FDA, said in an e-mail. Such illnesses cost $77.7 billion a year, according to a 2012 study cited in the agency’s proposal. That includes medical costs, time off work and the cost of premature death.
The Republican Congress rejected including a similar proposal in the Food and Drug Administration’s budget request last year and also ruled out the idea when debating a food-safety law that President Barack Obama signed last year.
The fees are minimal compared with the cost of foodborne illness, which the act seeks to reduce, Doug Karas, a spokesman for the FDA, said in an e-mail. Such illnesses cost $77.7 billion a year, according to a 2012 study cited in the agency’s proposal. That includes medical costs, time off work and the cost of premature death.
The Republican Congress rejected including a similar proposal in the Food and Drug Administration’s budget request last year and also ruled out the idea when debating a food-safety law that President Barack Obama signed last year.
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